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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  January 29, 2013 9:00am-11:00am EST

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those beliefs, and we have great discussions and we disagree as well. >> that is all for "starting point" this morning. i'm john berman. >> i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with us. now to carol costello, "cnn newsroom" begins right now. >> good morning to you both and good morning to all of you. stories we're watching now in the newsroom, defying gravity and flirting with death the thrill-seeking x games turns somber with word one injured athlete has taken a turn for the words. protecting the nfl shield and nfl player, the league and the union near a deal to fund research on concussions and other injuries. president obama on the road and on message for a chief priority of his second term today, he wraps his arms around a new senate plan to reform the nation's immigration system. and it seems logical if you're a safe driver you should pay less for car insurance. too bad that's not the case anymore. the difference in price quotes
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might shock you. "the newsroom" starts now. good morning, and thank you so much for being with us. i'm carol costello. we begin with the adrenalin-fueled x games, and new questions this morning as the high-flying competition, has it become too extreme, too dangerous? 25-year-old caleb moore who competes in snowmobile freestyle is in critical condition this morning after this bone-jarring crash a few days ago. after he came up short on landing his 450-pound snowmobile tumbled over him. "usa today" is reporting moore has chest and head injuries. danger and thrills are a big part of the x games and its appeal to younger audience. sunday it wasn't just the athlete but the crowd that scrambled to get out of the way of a runaway snowmobile. remember this iconic fail from
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2007, skateboarder jake brown soars into the sky, loses control and plummets 45 feet to a thunderous crash, amazingly, he walked away with only bumps and bruises but he's one of the lucky ones. jason blevins for "the denver post" has spoken to moore before the event. jason, welcome and good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> any more word on caleb moore's injuries? >> last update from the family was that he remained in krillical condition, is being observed and monitored in the hospital in grand junction. >> can you describe his injuries for us? >> he was knocked out after you saw that sled hit him in the head and when he came to he was being treated to at the local hospital ins aspend for a concussion when they found bleeding around his heard so they air lifted him to st. mary's hospital in grand
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junction where, after i guess he had friday morning emergency heart surgery and complications from that surgery led to a brain injury or brain complications what the family says. >> sadly he wasn't the only athlete injured in the winter x games. there were five or six athletes injured, too. >> yeah, his brother, who followed him, was injured on the same jump, only moments later, separated his toes. couple of skiers were injured on the slopestyle course. >> the question is rises are these x games too extreme, are they getting too dangerous? >> you know, it's a good question but we see injuries in every top level sport. you watch nfl and you see guys carted off the field on a regular basis. these are athletes that it's a very cost of their sports, the edge, pushing it up and standing
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in the horizons and showing what's possible. with the push and progression comes increased risk. i talk to the athletes all the time and they speak very plainly that they know the risks and they assume the risks and they prepare for themselves, they train, they work hard and use a variety of tools to learn these tricks from foam pits and air bags to gym practice on trampoline. they work very hard to mitigate the risk but the risks do obviously increase as you push the sport into new realms and new tricks. >> definitely. jason blevins of "the denver post" thanks for joining thus morning. >> thanks. another possible victory for gay rights advocate, the boy scouts of america on the verge of allowing openly gay scouts and scout leaders. it's an issue gaining support for decades. more than 1 million people
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signed petitions and protested the ban, some eagle scouts even returned their medals, but even if that national ban is lifted, local troops may still be able to exclude gay members. james dale is a former assistant scoutmasters who was kicked out of the boy scouts for being gay. the supreme court ruled for the boy scouts' right to exclude gay members and joins us now. good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> james, why do you think the boy scouts suddenly shifted its position? >> i think this has been a long evolution of america that's taken place and the boy scouts are finding themselves on the wrong side of history. when you have the president of the united states just last week talking about the civil rights movement from african-americans to women to gays and lesbians, it really kind of squarely puts the boy scouts in the past and i don't think that's a place they can afford to be anymore. >> so is lifting the ban enough? there's some thought the boy scouts will leave it up to individual troops to decide. >> of course. i think this is a great first
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step and a conversation that they're having but when they expelled me in 1990 from scouting and when they upheld the right of the united states supreme court in 2000, it was a top-down policy. the boy scouts have ruled with a tight fist and said that no gay member can be a part of the boy scouts, whether youth or adult, so likewise f they'er thislikewo end this policy they need to tend as the top-down, saying we as the boy scouts of america are against discrimination. >> they also do not allow atheists anding agnostics. >> the issue they're talking about is the gay issue specifically. >> and just a last yquestion fo you, would you consider being a scout leader again? >> i have a nephew now and would love to be with him if he joins the boy scouts but it has to be a top-down policy. you can't go this far and do half the job. they have to stop discrimination. >> james dale, former assistant
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scoutmaster thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. the battle for same-sex marriage gaining new allies from big business, ebay, marriott and armani are among 13 big national companies forming a campaign, the goal eliminating the defense of marriage act the 1996 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. lateert today president obama launches his second term push for imfwramigration reform embrace a plan already unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators. both parties say they're willing to compromise to deal with the 11 million illegal immigrants now living in the united states. the difference i think on the ground is we have to put together a bipartisan bill in the senate and in the house to send it to the president. it's going to look different than what i might write or the president might write but it's certainly going to reach the same goal, to make sure these 11 million people living in america have a path to legalization first and then to citizenship.
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>> president obama said to be ready to unveil his own plan if the proposals fall apart in the senate. lawmakers in the house are also said to be working on their own immigration plan. new york city mayor michael bloomberg getting internet buzz for an abrupt end to reporter's questions. granted jason mattera is well-known for his jabs in left-leaning causes. he asks bloomberg how he can support gun control with the security. >> look at the team of security you have got. ? the spirit of gun control will you disarm your entire security team? >> we'll get back to you. >> would you like a sip of my soda? >> mattera is a conservative radio talk show host. that mention of soda is a dig of his ban on sodas. one member of the security team approached him twice more asking for i.d., the confrontation
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ended without incident. the nation's esecond larges automaker reported stronger earnings in the last quarter of 2012. alison kosik is here to tell us how good it it is. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, coral, ford posted a 54% rise in profit in the final three months of 2012 so that tops expectations. you look at sales especially in north america they jumped but europe continues to be a big problem for the company, in fact ford's operations there are actually posted a loss which when you think about it not so surprising when you consider the region, it's been dealing with the debt crisis for years now. the company has announced plant closings and job cuts to stem the bleeding in europe, which has hit the other major automakers as well, but we talk about this a lot when we talk about earnings, what everybody sort of looks at is what is going to happen going forward and because it's more important than what just happened and the outlook for ford at this point is very good even with issues in
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europe hanging over their heads. fort is expecting north american profits to continue to be strong especially with the new model of the f-150 coming out, i'd say in about 2015 we're hearing, shares though of ford are down about 1.5% in the premarket, carol, that's because of those worries about europe. carol? >> let's talk about the workers. are things looking up for them, too? >> they are, so what the automaker said recently it's adding 2,200 salaried jobs this year, it happens to be the biggest addition of white collar workers in a decade, on top of 8,100 hourly and salaried positions that it added last year. this strong earnings and job growth that's happening at ford is good news for investors, too, because ford also announced a couple weeks ago it's going to be doubling its quarterly dividend so at this point with ford, everybody's winning, nice to see the comeback for the auto industry for sure. >> for sure, alison kosik live at the new york stock exchange. concussions may grab headlines but other
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footballenifootball eni injuries are part of the story. out the nfl and the union are trying to help improve players' long-term health. ♪
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14 minutes past the hour. 22-year-old man sits at a dallas jail accused of pointing a laser at a police helicopter. according to the "dallas morning news" the man did it to see how far the light would go. you can see the laser beaming to the chopper it from the camera on board. the faa says this happens all the time. last year there were 3,400 incidents reported nationwide. this is dangerous for those flying those helicopters, folks. in omaha, nebraska, sounds more like a scene out of a movie, several manhole covers popped their lids and shot out flames after an underground explosion. transformer blew, putting thousands in the dark. a 16-mile stretch of the mississippi river remains closed near vicksburg's of an oil spill. the coast guard has five contracted vessels helping with cleaning up and skimming vasions. unclear how many gallons leaked after two barges struck a bridge
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sunday morning. the barge was carrying 80,000 gallons of oil. a barns & noble near you could soon be out of business. the last national book store chain tells "the wall street journal" it plans to close at least 20 stores a year for the next decade. it's been finding competition from amazon and the growing popularity of ebooks. the spotlight on football-related injuries has mostly focused on concussions over the last few years. there are bone-rattling nfl hits and many injuries and illnesses you may not hear about. now the envelope and the players' association, the union are finalizing a deal to fund a $100 million harvard study. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us with more. >> this will really be interesting to see what they find here because nothing quite like this has ever been done. in essence, this is what they're thinking about doing. take 1,000 players and really follow them, look at their medical records, get measurements and look at all sorts of stuff, and then pick
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your 100 healthiest, and pick your 100 sickest, and then compare them, and one of the things that they will likely be looking for is how much does football have to do with it? are they sicker because they play a certain position or because they played for a longer period of time and talking about current players and former players and so this is something that's been negotiated and talked about. the nfl says nothing is more important than the health and safety of their players and if you're really into this, cnnhealth.com my colleague stephanie smith has a wonderful article. >> i was talking to two nfl players yesterday about concussions and one of them is going to donate his brain to science in essence and he said it's difficult to know exactly when the injuries occurred, did it occur when i was playing as a little boy, did it occur in high school? did it occur in the pros? will this study address that? >> i imagine that is one of the things they will address, they will ask players when did you start playing? did you have problems at this age? did you have problems at that age? a thorough study. with this much money i assume it's going to be thorough, they are going to ask those kinds of
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questions. >> $100 million. >> that's a lot. >> that's good though, that will get something done. >> right, one would hope so. >> elizabeth cohen thanks so much. we'll talk more about the plan to cut down on football-related injuries at the top of the hour with the nfl players' association chief d. maurice smith. another big issue in the nfl is the lack of minority head coaches. there were eight openings following the end of the regular season, all of those jobs were filled by white men. two members of the baltimore ravens organization took time from the super bowl to address this disparity. joe carter from hln sports is in new orleans to cover the super bowl. what'd they say, joe? >> reporter: good morning, carol. there's two sides to this issue obviously some people believe that the vacancies were filled by qualified people, they happened not to be black men, and the other side of it says well us as a country, we're progressing in social issues
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like the acceptance of gay marriage, reelecting a black president but the nfl, the most popular sport in this country is taking a step backwards on the social issue and so we asked gym caldwell, head coach for the indianapolis colts and ozzie w newsom, one of the few black general managers in the nfl, asked what they thought of the lack of hiring, eight head coaches and seven manager positions that are open and here's what they had to say. >> there's been a lot of very intelligent men that have looked at it and said hey, let's look at this thing and talk about it in-depth so i think that's going to happen. >> among the diversity working group committee myself, commissioner tag put me on year ago, are we going to work to get better? yes. all we can do is to put people in front of people. >> so obviously that's a hot button topic that will be
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dissected and looked at closer as we head on to the weeks coming. today it's a lighter issue, a much more event to are cover, the circus known as media day, thousands of the media around the world will enter behind me to talk to players and coaches and fans are allowed to watch us work and for 25 bucks they get a seat and a little radio to hear what the players have to say to our questions. one of the big stories is jim and john harbaugh the family affair -- it >> joe, joe, joe, joe, somebody is going to pay 25 bucks to watch you ask questions? >> reporter: yes, isn't that great? >> that's bizarre. >> one of the questions going to be asked, we're going to ask about jim and john harbaugh, the harbaugh brothers, the first time in super bowl history two brothers will face each other, two head coaches will face each other and the story's become so big, carol, their parents, jackie and john, will be holding their own press conference tomorrow and john and jim will be holding their own press conference together on friday. so it is certainly a family
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affair here in new orleans and a topic a lot of people want to know a lot about. we're wondering where are jackie and jack going to sit during the super bowl, we'll find that out as well as many things about the harbaughs later on. >> if they sit there with the other fans, the cameras will be on them all the time and they have to keep their faces impassive. that would be so hard. joe carter, thanks so much. a ravens superfan has won a trip to the super bowl thanks to this performance. >> ahhh! >> no, no! >> even the dog was confused. keith letorneau went absolutely crazy after the ravens beat denver in the playoffs, his wife, rachel, caught his hysterics on camera phone and posted it on youtube. the video went viral leading to representatives from a credit card company visiting the
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letorneau home. >> two hats for you and your wife, to make wear in new orleans when we send you to the super bowl. >> ye -- what?! >> oh, man, i wanted him to scream again. letorneau says he knows the ravens will win. he calls them a team of destiny. on the eve of the super bowl cnn is live in new orleans with the take on the biggest sporting event in the country, what it means to the city, how it became a cultural phenomenon and so much more, join us for kickoff in new orleans as cnn bleacher report special, saturday afternoon 4:00 p.m. eastern. he's been pushing new gun measures but in an interview president obama says at camp david, they go skeet shooting all the time. seriously. we thought it might be an interesting talk back question. obama skeet shooting on target or telling? facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn.
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now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning, obama skeet shooting on target or telling? at face value it's a silly argument, the president skeet shooting? whatever, but it seems nothing is silly when it comes to debating gun control in america. it started with an interview in "the new republic." he said "up at camp david we do skeet shooting all the time." the editor was stunned. >> we knew a little bit that he fired weapons on secret service firing ranges and things like that in the past, but this idea of him going up to camp david and skeet shooting regularly and enjoying it is sort of a new side to the president that i at least hadn't seen and i don't think a lot of others had either. >> that includes republican congresswoman marsha blackburn of tennessee who says why now, mr. president? >> if he is a skeet shooter, why
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have we not heard of this, why have we not seen photos, why has he not referenced it? at any point in time, as we have had this gun debate that is ongoing you would have thought it would have been a point of reference. i tell you what i do think. i think he should invite me to camp david and i'll go skeet shooting with him and i bet i'll beat him. >> as to why there are no photos, white house spokesman jay carney hedged. >> is there a photograph of him doing it? >> there may be but i haven't seen it. >> why haven't we heard about it before? >> because when he goes to camp david he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs. >> again, whatever! still, why did the president feel the need to bring this up at all, if he wanted to win over gun rights advocates, skeet shooting isn't exactly on target. the nra said "the second amendment is not about shooting skeet and it's not a tradition. it's a fundamental right upheld by the u.s. supreme court."
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so while obama seemed to be reaching out, however awkwardly, to gun owner, the whole thing may have backfired. obama skeet shooting on target or telling? facebook.com/carolcnn, or tweet me @carolcnn. ♪ [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪
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keep moving. stayfree. good morning, thanks for joining us. i'm carol costello. it's 30 minutes past the hour. as the opening bell rings on wall street, premarket trading showed ford sales sliding even though the automaker posted higher income in sales at home but didn't perform as well in europe and lost $732 million for the quarter. four people now facing charges for the deadly nightclub fire in brazil. police arrested the club's two owners and two band members.
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they're also questioning several others. mourners remembered all 231 victims by releasing white helium balloons into the air for each life lost, all of the victims have now been laid to rest. to africa now, the u.s. is expanding its role in the conflict against al qaeda-linked militants in mali. "the wall street journal" reports the united states has signed an agreement with neighboring niger to provide legal protection for american military personnel operating there, and while french-led troops are at the forefront in mali, the u.s. is helping with aerial refueling missions, intelligence and airlift support. back here at home, secretary of state hillary clinton hasn't even left the state department or said if she might run again for president in 2016, but she has a super pack ready and willing to support her if she does. the group, ready for hillary, already garnered nearly 50,000 twitter followers. friday is actually clinton's last day on the job but right now she's hosting a global town hall at the nuseum in
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washington, being livestreamed on youtube if you want to watch, the event is a chance for to you engage with young people from around the world. president obama also on the road today to embrace a newly unveiled plan to reform immigration laws. the proposal would give millions of undocumented workers a chance to stay in the united states legally, but just as notably it has the backing of both republicans and democrats at least for now. white house correspondent brianna keilar joins us live. is the senate proposal everything the president wanted? >> reporter: i'm sure it's not exactly everything he would want, carol, that if you were able to write his own bill that it would be exactly identical to this but that doesn't mean that it isn't palatable and the white house right now is welcoming the fact this bipartisan proposal is out there, if not endorsing it because they aren't at this point. the hottest button issue traditionally when dealing with immigration reform is how do you deal with the undocumented immigrants who are already in the country, millions of them,
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and so when you think about it, it wouldn't be surprising that any sort of proposal that deals with this, that has the sign-on of some republicans that it might have a tougher pathway to citizenship than what the president would like, and he sort of outlined his here in the last year and a half and we're expecting him to talk more about that in las vegas today. he has proposed registering with the government undergoing background checks, paying taxes in a penalty and learning english and certainly anything republicans would sign on to, coral, th carol, they'd have a tougher pathway. >> senators have a plan, the president has a plan and the house members say they have a plan. whenever the house gets involved usually there's trouble so what do you think? >> reporter: certainly they will be farther to the right, that would be the expectation, so trying to get all of those ideas out there, and then i think we'll have a better sense of if there may be some insurmountable differences. the difference and you're
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hearing this also from house republicans, we heard this over the weekend from paul ryan, that they want to do something. obviously the devil is in the details, and the truth is, carol, that time is really what will tell. we can't tell if this is going to succeed right now but when you look at the past, 2007, president bush failed in his attempt to deal with immigration reform, conservative members of his own party scuttling that effort and in 2010 you had kind of a peaiecemeal measure in the senate which was to grant some sort of pathway to citizenship for some of these children of undocumented immigrants, that failed as well but there is the sense and you're hearing this from republicans as well as democrats that they think the election, the fact that hispanic voters were such a force, that they went so overwhelmingly for democrats that that's really changed the conversation and how this effort turns out, carol, is going to be the true test of if they really did. >> brianna keilar live at the white house for thus morning. he helped honor his colleagues during the screen actor's guild awards but it's
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what happened after the show that has this actor making headlines. yeah, i'm looking to save, but i'm not sure which policy is right for me. you should try our coverage checker. it helps you see if you have too much coverage or not enough, making it easier to get what you need. [ beeping ] these are great! [ beeping ] how are you, um, how are you doing? i'm going to keep looking over here. probably a good idea. ken: what's a good idea? nothing. with coverage checker, it's easy to find your perfect policy. visit progressive.com today.
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from the s.a.g. awards to snagging a burglar? that was how the night went for one hollywood actor. nischelle turner joins us from los angeles. taye diggs, wow. >> absolutely, if hollywood is looking for their next james bond we may have found him seriously. just hours after taye diggs walked the carpet at the screen actor's guild awards, according
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to the lapd taye diggs who plays a doctor on "private practice" returned to his home from the s.a.g. ceremonies to find a man in his garage "looking for items to steal. "the man took off, but taye diggs caught up with him down the street, tackled him and held him until the police arrived and took the suspect into custody. taye diggs did all of this still in his tux from the ceremonies. you know, carol, this can't be considered a surprise because he is definitely in shape. now the suspect not in the best of shape right now. he's a 20-year-old man named hassan juma, taken to jail, charged with burglary. ll cool j this past summer caught someone trying to break into his home. i got a note for all the criminals out there. there is a chance that you just might run into someone like ll or taye if you break into the wrong house in hollywood. you might want to think twice from here on out. >> why not break into danny devito's house or something? >> hey, don't sleep on danny. he might get you, too.
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>> it's true. he does look like a tough little guy in some roles. >> exactly. >> "star wars" is supposed to go 3-d but not yet? >> thiscy delay most of the fans will be able to deal with, the 3-dification of the prequel "star wars" films. lucas film says they're going to delay their push to turn the movies into 3-d films so they can focus on the new star wars trilogy they announced. most "star wars" fans would say i'd prefer to see the new j.j. abrams directed story than a 3-d version of a film i've seen already. even though the earliest we're like to see "star wars episode 7" is until 2015. i know we got to wait. >> i'll be waiting and see it, i know it. nischelle turner thanks so much. >> me, too. all right.
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sure. could lower your car insurance you have to be a safe driver. you always thought that was the case anyway but it turns out safer drivers might actually pay more.
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43 minutes past the hour. time to check our top stories. motorcyclist in china barely escaped death. he's sitting at the intersection
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when a truck driver makes a left turn and then suddenly the truck overturns. that truck misses that cyclist by inches. we're told no one was hurt, no one was even seriously injured. a woman accused of pushing a man to his death at a new york subway train is said to be arraigned at this hour. she thought the man was a muslim and told them she hated all muslims and hindus after 9/11. major flooding in australia left four people dead and forced thousands to evacuate and also blamed for sea foam, a by-product, washing up at a beach. people are actually going for a swim in the foam and playing around in it, doesn't it look fun. dare devil nick walenda a little more than an hour from now he plans to walk a skinny steel of wire in his hometown of
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sarasota without a safety harness. last year he walked 200 feet above niagara falls. we hope to bring you live pictures of his latest feat as it happens. north korea is one of the most isolated places on the planet even with google maps but now we get a better understanding of how this country was put out. this was put together in large part of a commune of mapmakers. zain verjee is in london. how do you do that? >> basically the whole idea of citizen cartographers is crowd sourcing, anyone who knows anything about satellite, has details about streets all get together and over the years this is what we've come up with, this map so the good news here for you, carol, is the next time you go on vacation, you can go to pyongyang, and you're going to be able to know exactly where to find kim il-sung's mausoleum, know where the gulags are
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because the prisons have been identified a few of they will on the maps. this is a big deal, this is such a secretive nation, we don't know a lot about north korea and now the map is basically identifying places that were before secret and we never knew they were there. the u.s. is worried about north korea because it has a nuclear weapons program and threatened to target the united states, so it's important that the more information we have about north korea, the better it is for the u.s. and the rest of the world. there hasn't been a whole lot of data, in inconorth korea itself doesn't matter because most people don't have access to the internet anyway. >> gegeez. it's interesting the map comes on the heels on a trip to north korea by the head of google, eric schmidt. >> everyone is going uh-huh, wink-wink, what is the connection here? he was over about three weeks ago along with the former governor of new mexico, bill richardson, who basically then issued a statement, google did and said there is no connection between that visit and this new
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map. they said that this has been in the works for a while. this is kind of interesting, carol, eric schmidt's daughter was on the trip and put up a blog post they were able to look at north korea's national intranet a walled garden of scrubbed content taken from the real internet so basically i'm going to translate that for you carol which means she's implying that the north koreans are living in their own reality. >> gotcha. thanks for the translation. we appreciate it. weird story. thank you, zain verjee reporting live from london. does it seem fair? you're a safe driver. you should pay less for insurance. it's always been that way, right? but a consumer watch dog group says many safe drivers are actually paying a lot more. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. this is disturbing. i'm a safe driver. am i paying more? >> you could be. it's disheartening when you think about it. you see the insurance commercials saying safe drivers pay less.
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turns out it's not always the case. the consumer federation of america released a pretty provocative report and the cfa looked at five policy quotes from major insurance companies given to hypothetical motorists in 12 different cities and here's what it found out. in two of three cases, quotes for premiums in two out of three cases quotes for premiums were higher, more expensive for drivers who had clean records compared to those who had been in an accident. what? yeah, according to the head of the cfa, insurers put more weight on income-related factors more so than driving related ones and it figured it out, the study had identical information for a 30-year-old woman, same policy, zip code, median income. one was a receptionist in a rented home with a small lapse in coverage but a clean driving record. the other was a married executive who owned a home with no lapse but recently caused an accident. the cfa says state farm was the only insurer to quote the
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receptionist less, while allstate quoted her 164% more than the executive. lousy, lousy if you ask me. >> so what are the insurance companies saying? >> funny you ask that. geico, statefarm, allstate and farmers declining to comment. progressive has a voluntary program that installs a device on a driver's vehicle and monitors their driving behavior and bases rates on that information. industry officials in general say drivers are always able to shop around for the best price, in fact state regulations do require that insurers, that they have to consider a wide variety of factors when they determine if a customer is a safe driver and raise in income are not included. little advice if you feel like you're getting an unreasonable quote don't settle on the first insurer. keep making calls until you get a price that at least seems fair. >> i'm going to be checking. alson kosik, thanks so much. transportation secretary ray lahood will be stepping down. we're just learning that info,
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came from the white house, lahood will remain at the department until a successor is named. he's the only republican still left in president obama's first term cabinet. "talk back" question. obama skeet shooting, on target? executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ we, we chocolate cross over. ♪ yeah, we chocolate cross over. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. ♪ chocolate.
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severe thunderstorms and tornadoes could slow down your day in portions of central texas and oklahoma and in much of the
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southeast. jennifer delgado is in the weather center keeping an eye on things for us. jennifer? hi, carol. a slight chance anywhere in gold. the orange is the area that we're really concerned about. you see for northern parts of louisiana into the boothill of missouri, some of these storms that are going to be developing as we go through even tomorrow could produce some very damaging winds or, of course, some tornadoes. and we point out to you overnight tornadoes because those are the biggest threat, of course, with so many people sleeping. we have two tornado watches into arkansas, missouri. lightning associated with the storm. as we go through the afternoon, more storms will be developing. we said we're really concerned about the evening and the skroechb hours. of course so many people sleeping. as we take you through the clock, if you notice, 11:00, line of storms really starts to fire up. and that's where the greatest concern is. that's why we tell people all the time to make sure that they have a weather radio.
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you want to make sure this is on and you have batteries. this would certainly save your life. again, this is the noaa weather radio. >> good advice. thank you, jennifer. our "talk back" question today -- obama skeet shooting on target or telling? frank says, "both sides are dug in on this issue. i don't know anyone who is on the fence. it won't change a thing except the republicans may add one more reason not to like him." this from phoenix, "so what? does he use weapons he wants banned? my god, some people make an issue out of everything." from dionne, "laughable but pathetic. an attempt to win over second amendment supporters." from bill, "congressman blackburn, do we need to know everything about the president? does he prefer knitting or crocheting? cut me a break, lady." and, "obama says he goes skeet shooting quite often. that's like me saying i rap on a daily basis and feel the violin on the weekend. y'all feel me?" keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn.
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you think an award, olympic gold medal made lebron's year? what he said at the white house about all of those accomplishments, put them in perspective. sfx: horn. ding. ding. how long have i had my car insurance? i don't know. eight, ten years. i couldn't tell ya' but things were a lot less expensive back then. if you're 50 or over you should take a new look at your auto insurance. you may be overpaying. actually that makes a lot of sense. old policy. old rates.
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now i've seen it all. you won't drop me, you take care of me as well as my car, and you offer savings to switch. it's unbelievable! if you're 50 or over call now to request your free quote. i'm gonna call. i'm calling. i'm calling. i'm calling. call today and make the switch to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford. why wait? tiger woods making a bold statement that he's ready to return to the top of the golf world. tiger led by as much as eight strokes at the final round of the farmers insurance open and went on to win the tournament by
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four. it was his eighth career win on the torrey pines course and his 75th pga win overall. that places tiger seven tour wins behind all-time leader sam sneed. tiger credited his long and short game for the win. >> i drove the ball beautifully all week. and as i was explaining that my short game's been coming around. came around end of last season. and you're not going to hit every par five in two, but need to get up and down. i did that this week. my short game was back to how i know it can be. the shots that i hit, especially out of these nasty little lies, i hit good ones this week. >> the win at torrey pines comes a week after tiger missed the cut at a tournament in abu dhabi. president obama had the reigning champ miami heat at the white house. the president is a chicago bulls fan but happily accepted a heat jersey in his name. it's been quite a year for lebron james. you know, the nba crown, mvp, olympic gold.
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the white house visit put all of those achievements into perspective. >> i mean, we kids from chicago and dallas, texas, and michigan and ohio and south dakota. [ laughter ] >> miami. i mean, we -- we in the white house right now. this is like -- hey, mom, i made it. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> you can see how tall he is. the president also thanked the heat for visiting wounded warriors and the walter reed while they were in washington. that's a look at sports. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. stories we're watching right now -- protecting players. the nfl and the union working together on a plan to fund research into health issues. we're talking with the nfl players association's executive director. plus, chill fila president dan kathie makes an unlikely now friend.
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the director of a gay rights organization protesting the company. now the same organization is suspending its protests. we'll ask the director why. also, the governments say they're companies, but the days of excessive spending are continuing with the government's blessing. now this -- ♪ >> it costs a pretty penny to advertise during the super bowl. but are advertisers getting all the bang for their buck or are super bowl ads a giant waste of money? "newsroom" starts now. good morning, thank you very much for being with us. i'm carol costello. excitement is building with just five days until the super bowl. the san francisco 49ers and bawl ravens in new orleans now for the -- baltimore ravens in new
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orleans now for the big game. enjoy the game in its present state because the game could change. it's possible. the nfl is dealing with serious issues of player safety, especially concussions. concern has reached all the way to the white house where president obama told the "new respect," "i'm a big football fan, but if i had a son i'd have to think long and hard before i let him play football. and i think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce violence. in some cases that may make it little less exciting." baltimore ravens' ed reed, known as one of the hardest hitters in the league. he has a son. he agreed with the president. >> i'm with obama because i have a son. i'm not forcing football on my son. you know, if he want to play it, you know, that's what i would probably say to obama was like, you know, if your son want to play it, how you feel about that then? do you let him play? you know, do you turn him away from it? you know, because -- you can't make decisions for him at the end of the day. all i can say is, "son, i played
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it so you don't have to." >> the nfl plarkz -- players association joining us. >> good morning. >> you heard president obama, ed reed, parent thinking twice before letting their kids play football. how concerned are you? >> well, you know, as a parent with two kids who play sports, i always want them to play in a sport that i know is going to be safe. and the reality of professional football is it does come with certain inherent risk. one of the things we wanted to do with this study which is just one piece is to make sure that we dedicated money to make sure that players in the future will benefit from the research in both health, safety, and wellness. >> and you're going to -- is the union going to donate $100 million toward this study on football injuries? >> this is something i'm probably most proud of our players. almost two years ago in june and
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july while we were locked out by the nfl owners, the players nonetheless committed themselves to dedicate $100 million over the next ten years which would have been $100 million that could have gone to salary and benefits. they had the vision nearly two years ago to dedicate this money to research for health, safeties, and wellness. >> junior seau's death, i mean, that had to hit you hard. has his death because he was such a popular player kind of changed the course of conversation, made this real for fans, for players? >> well, you know, before junior's unfortunate death, we lost a good friend of mine, dave doerson. long before that, mike webster from the pittsburgh steelers also died. i can't say that one tragedy led to this. i think that what you have seen over the period of time is two things. one, science becoming better and helping our players. but most importantly, players
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making a decision that they want to be vitally involved in making the game safer. >> when you have ed reed saying, you know, i'd think twice before letting my son play football, doesn't that speak to you that the game the change? that it's just a matter of time? >> you know, when it comes to health, safety, and wellness for the players, the game is an important piece, obviously. but it's not the only piece. just this cba, for example, we decreased hitting in training camps by half by eliminating two-a-day practices. we're advocating for the league to accept the players' proposal of having a neutral sideline concussion expert on the field. at the same time, we're also asking the national football league to stop fighting players on workers comp cases which is the main way that our players get health care for the injuries
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they suffer at work. what we believe in is a holistic approach to make it safer all the way around. >> do you believe that the game itself should become less violent for the good of the players? even though many don't want that? >> you know, i've been in this job for four years and had the pleasure of working with ed reed, who's a tremendous leader. whether it's jason whitten or tom brady. the reality of football is there are certain risks inherent in football. and does it mean we can decrease those risks? yes. the question of whether or not we make football less violent to me is not the right focus. the real question should be what are we willing to do as both the national football league and players to decrease the risks that we know are inherent, but most importantly to make sure that when players are hurt that they're taken care of by their employer. that is a substantial step that we still need to get to with the national football league. >> demaurus smith, thank you.
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we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. new questions surrounding the adrenaline-fueled x-games. has the high-flying competition become too dangerous? 25-year-old kalenn -- kalen mooe is in critical condition after his snowpotentially tmobile -- snowmobile tumbled over him. he has head and chest injuries. a staff writer says the risks are increasing as the limits are constantly pushed. >> these are athletes that are, you know, at the top of their sports. very -- pushing the envelope, expanding their horizons and showing what's possible. and with that -- with that real push and progression comes increased risk. and you know, these -- i talk to these athletes all the time. and they speak very plainly that they know the risks, and they assume the risks and prepare themselves. they train. they work hard. you know, they use a variety of
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tools to learn these tricks from foam pits and air bags to, you know, gym practice on trampolines. they work very hard to mitigate the risk, but the risks do obviously increase as you push the sport into new realms and new tricks. >> "the denver post" took an unscientific poll of online readers. 35% said the games are too dangerous. 42% said no, 23% are not sure. he's made it a key part of a second-term agenda. today president obama will weigh in on the hot topic of immigration reform. at an appearance in las vegas, the president is expected to endorse a proposal laid out by a bipartisan group of senators. the so-called gang of eight. it offers a path to residency, even citizenship for millions of immigrants who are in the united states illegally. it also calls for employment -- an employment verification system that prevents identity theft, and it would end hiring of unauthorized workers in the
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future. my next guest will be in the audience when the president speaks. she is grace a. martinez, leader of united we dream, a group of -- a group dedicated to helping undocumented young people. she herself is undocumented and is currently a senior at texas a&m. welcome. >> hi, carol. thank you for having me. >> thanks for being with us. what do you want to hear from the president today? >> you know, we're really excited to be able to have this conversation. i think what we want to hear out of the president is, you know, what it's going to look like for all 11 million. also, we want to see his leadership and inclusion of our lgbt families and what -- in a immigration reform bill. and to see what the path that he lays forward and where we're starting the conversation. >> and you have a lot personally riding on this. your father was deported in 2006. tell us about that.
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>> so my father, his name is reece, was a baptist minister, small business owner. in the spring of 2007 was deported during my sophomore year at texas a&m. you know, my younger sisters and i -- it was one of the toughest moments in our life. and he made the decision to make sure that our family continued and to live out the american dream. so currently my sister is a graduate, and we're still working toward, you know, fulfilling that dream that my parents came for and risked everything for me and my sisters to have. so it just tells you that, you know, one of the things i want to hear from the president is how we're going to address, how we're going to address the millions of separations of families because we know that's not an american value. that families are separated every day. as we want to see how he will address that. >> it's probably unlikely even with these new proposals that your dad will be able to come back and become a citizen of the
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united states because he would have to go to the back of the line. but it is possible you might be able to become a u.s. citizen. how likely do you think it is, just talking realistically, that you will be able to stay in the united states and not be afraid? >> i'm currently not afraid. i think part of our story as a dream movement that we're undocumented and unafraid. that's what i proclaim. i think a lot of it is what you mentioned. i don't know whether i'll be able to see my father as he passes away or if something were to happen to him. i know that -- conversation that we started, the work that thousands of immigrants are doing on the ground is going to lead to a pathway to citizenship. we understand there's a lot of work ahead and that we're committed to that fight, we're committed to making that happen, for me to be able to hug my dad
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again. >> graisa martinez from the united we dream group, thank you very much. any minute now senator john kerry is expected to be confirmed by the senate foreign relations committee as the next u.s. secretary of state. the move clears the way for a vote by the full senate which, happen as early as today. a special election to fill kerry's massachusetts senate seat would be held in late june. president obama will have to find a new transportation secretary. the white house says ray lahood will not stick around for another four years. lahood is the latest cab netted member to announce -- cabinet member to announce their departure. five others have left or plan to do so including secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary leon panetta, and treasury secretary timothy geithner. bailout bonuses that reach millions and millions of dollars. some of the companies say your taxes are paying their ceos big
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bucks bonuses. in 2012 the head of aig was given $10.5 million. at ally financial, the ceo took home $9.5 million. the head of general motors was awarded $9 million. the government's top bailout watchdog says that is excessive. alison kosik joins us from the new york stock exchange with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. what the government's top bailout watchdog is pointing to is pointing at the state department. t.a.r.p. says the government has failed to rein in the excessive spending at aig, ally, and g.m. they took bailouts but ceos are getting hefty bonuses. kristi romero says "they continue to lack at an
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appreciation for their extraordinary situations and fuel to view themselves through the lenses of companies substantially owned by the u.s. government." executive pay is said to be more closely aligned for employees of similar rank in their industry. say a cfo at g.m. should be paid a similar amount to a cfo at chrysler. but surprise, romero says that hasn't happened. last year, treasury-approved pay packages of $3 million or more for half of the executives at these companies. listen to this -- of the almost 70 executives the government signed off on, all but one received $1 million or more. both ally and g.m. say they're complying with all t.a.r.p. restrictions. aig's bailout has been paid back. it's no longer under government supervision. there's another side to this. these pay packages seem huge but the companies say they're necessary to retain top talent. something that's crucial as the economy is still trying to ga i navigate away from the recession, though i don't think
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that argument will fly. >> no. we hear that argument all the time. usually people say, yeah, whatever. thank you very much. one of the largest gay rights groups protesting chick-fil-a says the food chain no longer funds the most divisive anti-gay groups. now they're best buddies. we'll talk about that next. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.
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17 minutes past the hour. time to check our top stories. consumers aren't that optimistic about the economy. the consumer confidence index released a few minutes ago shows a sharp drop from last month. it now stands at 58.6%, down from nearly 67% in december. the steep drop, races all the gains made through 2012. an increase in the payroll tax seems to be one of the things that has dampened consumers' enthusiasm. a 16-mile stretch of the mississippi river remains closed near vicksburg because of an oil spill. the coast guard says it has five contracted vessels helping with cleanup and skimming operations.
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still unclear exactly how many gallons leaked after two barges struck a bridge on sunday morning. the one that started leaking was carrying 80,000 gallons of oil. the boy scouts of america may be closer to changing its long-standing policy barring openly gay members. it's expected to be up for discussion when the group's national board meets next month. the scouts' policy has been heavily criticized, but the leader of the conservative family research council says the scouts will be making a serious mistake by bowing to gay activists. chick-fil-a. chick-fil-a has a brand new friend and ally -- campus pride. that is the same gay rights group that launched a campaign to boycott chick-fil-a last year. chick-fil-a's president, dan cathy, sparked national protests after he made it clear he was no fan of same-sex marriage. since then, cathy has been developed a friendship with campus pride director shane windmeyer who says chick-fil-a is no longer making donations to some anti-gay rights groups.
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the director of campus pride, shane windmeyer, has now suspended his campaign against chick-fil-a. he joins us now to talk about that. welcome, shane. >> thank you, carol. it's good to be here. >> thank you very much for being here. so all is forgiven with chick-fil chick-fil-a? >> actually, no, carol. nothing's forgiven with chick-fil-a. what we're trying to do is really better understand each other. and luckily through our campaign, we are able to sit down and have civil dialogue which sad she sometimes missing in this -- sad lewis sometimes missing in this country. this relationship with dan has allowed us to hear each other. and you know, i've learned that they've actually stopped giving to the most divisive groups like the family research council. i mean, tony perkins and his rhetoric around how gay people are the pawns of the enemy, there's many chick-fil-a customers and most of america who wouldn't agree with that. >> but chick-fil-a still donates moneys to anti-gay marriage
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groups. correct? >> that is correct. and i think that that's an important distinction. this is a positive step forward. our organization has never said go eat chick-fil-a or that college campuses should have chick-fil-a restaurants. you know, that's a personal decision. and i received a lot of flack, as you can imagine, from people because i'm coming out as a friend of dan cathy, that suddenly that's a blessing. it's no such thing. >> they say he's playing you. >> well, i am hard to be played, carol. at the end of the day, i think that in this country we don't sit down enough and be heard. and if sitting down with someone, calling someone a friend is being played, you know, i guess that's what people's viewpoints are. but i'm glad to be able to sit down and show the country that you can have civil discourse. and dan, you know, asks about my husband. he has referred moo to see my husband as my -- referred to my husband as my husband. there's been movement there. relationships matter in this country. we need to realize that rhetoric doesn't matter, but this
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relationship with dan i think is a perfect example of what's happening in our american families today. >> he refers to your husband as your husband, yet he doesn't really believe that legally you should have any such thing. so is it your goal to convince dan cathy eventually that that's the way he should think? >> you know, my goal in this has been to create an authentic relationship that's really turned into a friendship with the company, as well as with dan cathy. and i've been lucky that dan also wants to have an authentic relationship with me as an individual. but also with our organization. so this has never been about the views of dan cathy. this has always been about the anti-gay marriage funding which, as you mentioned, they haven't stopped funding all the groups. but what i wanted to come out and say is that, you know, i -- i have this relationship with dan. and i do know for a fact that they have stopped funding the more divisive groups like the family research council, like, you know, exodus international and the eagle forum which are
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really out of kind of the mainstream thought around gay people. >> i guess some people may criticize that because chick-fil-a actually donated relatively little money to those organizations but donate much more money to, you know, i guess less extreme organizations. >> you know, fellowship of christian athletes is one of the organizations that they still are funding. and, you know, i grew up in high school, and i was a member of fellowship of christian athletes. the organization has a band very similar to the boy scouts -- has a ban very similar to the boy scouts. the fellowship of christian athletes, it's similar to them banning gay people and an organization like the family research council that spews rhetoric. you know, it's a very challenging debate, and i think it's one where relationships matter. will chick-fil-a continue donating to anti-gay groups? and in 2011, 990, yes, they will. have they stopped defending the
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more divisive groups, yes. i think that's a positive step forward, and it's significant. i'm not saying it's over. just because you're someone's friend doesn't mean you can't disagree with them. and you can't challenge them on who you are. and you know, dan invited me as a guest to his home. he's invited me, as you know, to the chick-fil-a bowl. you know, this man as he would call it in his faith, you know, there's a blessing of growth. and as a country, we need to acknowledge and respect people of faith. i'm a person of faith. there are gay people of faith. and i think that's been missing for -- from this discourse frankly. >> shane windmeyer, executive director of campus pride. thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us. >> thank you, carol. "talk back" question for -- seems to pale in light of that conversation, doesn't it? it does. obama skeet shooting on target or telling? ♪
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now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question this morning -- obama skeet shotgun: on target or telling? it's a silly argument. the president skeet shooting? whatever. it seems nothing is silly when it comes to debating gun control
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in miamerica. it started in an interview, "up at camp david we do skeet shooting all the time," president obama said. the editor was stunned. >> we knew a little bit that he'd fired weapons on secret service spy ranges and things in the past. this idea of him going up to camp david and skeet shooting regularly and enjoying it is a new side to the president that i -- i at least hadn't seen. i don't think a lot of others had either. >> that includes republican congresswoman marcia blackburn of tennessee who says, why now, mr. president? >> if he is a skeet shooter, why this we not heard of this, why have we not seen photos? why has he not referenced it at any point in time as we have this this gun debate that is ongoing? you would have thought it would have been a point of reference. i tell you what i do think, i think he should invite me to camp david, and i'll go skeet shooting with him. i bet i'll beat him. >> as to why there are no
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photos, white house spokesman jay carney hedged. >> is there a photograph of him doing it? >> there may be, but i -- i haven't seen it. >> why haven't we heard about it before? >> because when he goes to camp david he goes to spend time with family and friends and relax. not to produce photographs. >> again, whatever. still, why did the president feel the need to bring this up at all? if he wanted to win over gun rights advocates, skeet shooting isn't exactly on target, the nra said, "the second amendment is not about shooting skeet, and it's not a tradition. it's a fundamental right upheld by the u.s. supreme court." while obama seemed to be reaching out however awkwardly to gun owners, the whole thing may have backfired. "talk back question," obama skeet shooting: on target or telling?" ♪ let's go. ♪
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i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you very much for being with us. time to check our top stories at 31 minutes past the hour. gun sales in the united states show no signs of slowing down as lawmakers consider tougher gun control measures. the fbi says out of the last 15 years they've seen the highest levels for gun background checks in the last six weeks. that, of course, follows the mass shooting at newtown.
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gun shop owners tell cnn semiautomatic rifles and high capacity ammo fly off the shelves. in omaha, nebraska, it seems more like a scene out of a movie. several manhole covers popped their little and shot out flames after an underground explosion. utility officials say a transformer blew, leaving thousands in the dark for a short period of time. they're still trying to figure out how it happened. a 22-year-old man sits in a dallas jail accused of pointing a laser at a police helicopter. according to "the dallas morning news," the man says he did it to see how far the light would go. you see the laser beaming into the chopper from the camera on board. the faa says this happens regularly, and it's dangerous. last year there were 3,400 incidents reported nationwide. immigration has long been what you call a hot-button issue. in 2012, candidate mitt romney had a novel idea -- if you want to rid the country of illegal immigrants, don't hire them. then they'll self-deport.
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what a difference ten months and 27% of the latino vote makes. arizona senator john mccain says one word sums up what some might call a change of heart. >> elections. elections. the republican party is losing the support of our hispanic citizens. we realize that there are many issues in which we think we are in agreement with our hispanic citizens. this is a pre-eminent issue. >> to be fair, as a presidential candidate in 2008, mccain said comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next occupant of the white house. since then he hasn't been as vocal until now. maria cardona is a cnn contributor and democratic strategist. anna navarro is a cnn contributor and republican strategist. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> okay. so the president later today will give a speech in las vegas,
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nevada. he was supposed to outline his own plan for immigration, but now he's going to take these eight senators' plan for immigration and say he's on board. why doesn't he just present his own plan, maria? >> well, i actually think it's smart of the white house to take the plan of the gang of eight in the senate and say that the president supports it. there will be some differences. the white house has outlined some of the differences the president will talk about today. we know that he wants, perhaps, a smoother and easier way path to citizenship. i think that's smart, too, because if you can look at the plan from the white house and then take the plan from the senators, there's some differences there. there is a place to negotiate. there is a place -- a place to meet in the middle. because this is still very much an uphill battle. i think that you have senators that understand what needs to be done. and they have been -- they have been speaking very forthrightly and smartly, i think. there are still a lot of republicans both in the house and in the senate who don't
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think that a path to citizenship is something that they can stomach. so hopefully between the white house and the senators on both sides of the aisle and the house on both sides of the aisle we can get this done. >> it seems that the bargaining chip here is border security. republicans are very concerned about that. they say nothing should happen until we secure our borders. >> carol, i think all americans are concerned about border security. border security is not just about immigration. border security is about drug trafficking. border security is about gun trafficking. border security is about terrorism. it is now a national security imperative. and it is a huge and important part of a comprehensive immigration solution. it needs to include border security. we need to win back the faith of the american people that their government is capable of keeping their border secure. we don't want this problem again. the big problem with the 1986 law was that it did not solve the problem long term.
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we want a solution now that does that. and it has to be bipartisan. it has to be bipartisan because there's a republican house, a democratic senate, and they are the ones that legislate and pass legislation. so the smartest thing president obama could do is embrace this bipartisan agreement that has been crafted by some of the most serious people who have been working on immigration for decades in the senate. both on the republican and democrat side. they know what they're doing. they know how far they can go. they know what the parameters are to be viable and be able to be passed. i hope he doesn't do anything to poison that well. >> in talking about border -- border security, maria, it makes you wonder, like, what will be the final solution there because that's a tough problem. and what will satisfy those lawmakers who say that we have to secure our borders, and here's how we're going to do that. i don't think anyone knows the
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answer to that. >> i think that's going to be one of the most difficult sticking points, carol. i mean, ain's right. american want to make sure that our borders are secure. how do we gnash? what is -- measure that? what is the benchmark there? if you look at money put into border security, we have been putting record amounts of money into border security. we spend $18 billion on border security and immigration enforcement. that's more money than the fbi, the dea, and the atf combined. if you look at the numbers of immigration, last year there was a negative -- negative immigration flow between the united states and mexico. so i think that's going to be a key sticking point. a lot of immigration advocates believe that this could be a pitfall for republicans to continue to say, oh, the border's not secure yet. the border's not secure yet. and that pathway to citizenship will actually never be a reality. so that is -- that is a big problem. >> i remember the arguments during 2012.
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some lawmakers wanted to put a fence, you know, around the entire country, right? that wasn't possible. others want more armed security along the border. and we have that now. what's the answer? >> well, what they've done in this new -- with this proposal, this bipartisan agreement, is they've formed a commission of border state governors. a commission that would certify that the border is secure. i think there's logic to that. carol, you know, the people on the ground are the ones that best can tell -- are we talking about border security to the point where a squirrel won't be able to get through the border? no. are we talking about border security better than we have now which, by the way, is better than we had four years ago? there have been improvements, and improvements can continue to be made. yes. and there are specific metrics that can be put into legislation. how many people get through, what -- you know, how many people get detained. i mean, you know, there are metrics. there are -- there is technology. there are human resources that can be allotted to this. then there is this commission
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that they have thought up of to certify that the border is secure and that would trigger the path to citizenship. but in the meantime, people would have a conditional status that would give them legality in this country. and the ability to work, and the ability to be out of the shadows. so, you know what, let us not have the perfect be the enemy of the very good. >> we'll see what the president says and what house lawmakers will come up with because they're working on their own plan now. anna -- >> it certainly -- >> we've got to go. >> a better time than any other to do this. >> at least we're all talking about it rationally, right? >> that's right. >> anna navarro, maria cardona. thank you very much. just minutes ago, got to pass this along to you, senator john kerry confirmed by the senate foreign relations committee as the next secretary of state. they did that in a unanimous vote. it clears the way for a vote by the full senate which could happen as early as today. this afternoon wolf blitzer conducts an interviewer with secretary of state hillary clinton. see it first "in the situation
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room." 4:00 eastern. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. i wish my patients could see what i see. ♪ that over time, having high cholesterol and any of these risk factors can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup in their arteries. so it's even more important to lower their cholesterol, and that's why, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100.
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i'm going to go out on a limb now. just as many people will watch the super bowl for the commercials as for the game. hmm. for advertisers, it could be money well spent. remember this ad from a few years ago -- ♪ >> it's the only one i remember if that year. this year companies like volkswagen will spend about $4 million for 30 seconds of ad time. the goal -- to raise the bar ever higher. ♪
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>> you guys are three minutes late. >> don't be no cloud on a sunny day. >> yeah, chill. >> sir? >> relax, boss man. >> that's the power of german engineering. >> that's the new ad for this year's super bowl. brian steinman is advertising editor for "advertising" magazine. i didn't like that as much as i liked the kid in the darth vader outfit. >> it's getting pushback in year. one of the early buzz things going on, whether or not the volkswagen ad is up to par. >> it's tough. like i'm curious, is there any way to know how much money that little kid in the darth vader outfit made for volkswagen? >> you know, it's a good question. every year, this is kind of -- think of return on investment. these things cost, you know, hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. how much do you make back? each company has its own way of telling. they want, you know, promotion and brand recognition, do they want car sales, soda sales?
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there's a lot of techniques and methods these guys use to figure things out. >> when you compare the two volkswagen ads, do they want different things? >> you, argue that a few years back, volkswagen hadn't been in the game before. they were coming out of recession and probably wanted to get their brand out more. maybe the name value or people talking about the company was more important. perhaps this year, a few years back, and i think a lot of foreign automakers are making big waves here in the u.s. maybe they care more about test drive requests. and people buying cars. >> let's talk about sex in advertising. we know that certainly sells. will be no different during the super bowl. supermodel kate upton's mercedes benz ad is generating controversy because some people say this is far too sexy for television. although i can think of worse things -- actually, i mean, she's beautiful. does this work? i'm laughing as i ask it. >> the teaser ad might be too much for television, the ad may not be.
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the goal is to get people talking about it in advance. you're probably seeing kate upton in an outfit that you might not see her on tv. maybe it will be cut differently. cbs and the networks push back on commercials. they do kind of tell people, listen, you're showing too much butt crack in this plumber's advertisement. there are things to be worried about and considerate of. i suspect you're seeing a sexier version now. and you'll see not buttoned down but toned down ad on game day. >> do you watch, as an adman, do you watch for the ads or the game? >> i watch for the ads. what can i tell you? >> i knew. it brian steinburg, television editor at the "advertising age," thank you very much. >> thank you. on the eve of the super bowl cnn is live in new orleans with our take on the biggest sporting event in the country. what it means to the city, how it became a cultural phenomenon and so much more. join us for "kickoff in new orleans." cnn "bleacher report special." airs 4:00 eastern.
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49d 49 minutes past the hour. people facing charges for the deadly nightclub fire in brazil. two owners and two band members have been arrested. police are questioning several others. mourners remembered all 231 victims by releasing white helium balloons into the air. back here at home, secretary of state hillary clinton hasn't even left the state department or said if she might run again for president in 2016, but she already has a super pac ready to support her if she cd the group's called "ready for hillary." it's garnered 50,000 twitter followers. another sign the housing market is slowly bouncing back. a new report shows home prices in 20 major u.s. cities posted their biggest jump in six years. prices are up more than 5%. a top economist at barclays is predicting another 6% to 7% rise in prices this year.
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"talk back" question -- president obama skeet shooting or telling? "i'm keeping my ak and my ar. they're in a safe and i am responsible. it's my right. i will never give them. obama can apt like he likes skeet shooting all he wants. i like target shooting with my said weapons." another, "he's not skeet shooting with a 100-round magazine." another, "he got his hand bitten as usual." from dave, "please! where is the proof? the only thing he's shooting is the constitution. show me the proof!" keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll be right back. could only come from nature.s
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want more storage on your ipad? apple is delivering for $799. the company announced today it's coming out with a 128-gigabyte version of the fourth generation ipad. the latest product rollout comes as the company faces fresh challenges under new leadership. here's cnn's dan simon. four, three, two, one -- [ cheers ] >> reporter: with its incredible
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sales and product buzz -- >> at long last -- >> yay! >> reporter: apple is still the envy of practically every company. stock declines amid growing competition has the tech industry wondering whether its still relatively new ceo, tim cook, can keep apple on top. >> it's an amazing time at apple. >> reporter: cook does not have the natural charisma and showman style of his predecessor, steve jobs. he concerns himself more with what's going on behind the scenes. he's almost universally regarded as a brilliant supply chain manager. >> tim clearly is more than capable of handling not only the operations but the business side of apple. >> reporter: long-time technology analyst tim beheren says the critics are asking too much of cook. >> what i'm hearing is that they want apple to innovate faster. that's really an unfair thing to do. if you look at the original iphone, that was actually took four to five years to bring to market. >> reporter: if jobs was the
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product visionary, tim cook is more executive. since taking over nearly 18 months ago, he's put his stamp on the company by making apple more charitable through matching employees' donations and by issuing apple shareholders dividends. something many felt should have happened long ago with the company's $100 billion-plus cash award. in rhettspection he said this to brian williams when asked about the comparison to jobs. >> one of the things he did for me that removed a gigantic burden that would have normally existed is he told me on a couple of occasions before he passed away to never question what he would have done. never ask the question what steve would do, to just do what's right. >> reporter: such as responding to critics and protesters who complain about long hours and human rights abuses at its chinese supply factories. and sending inspectors to
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identify the problems. also for the first time in many years, cook says the company, known for outsourcing its manufacturing, will begin making one of its mac products in the u.s. if this suggests a kinder, gentler apple, the must-have devices continue to roll out. >> we've got some really cool stuff to show you. [ applause ] >> reporter: nearly every single one of them has gotten a makeover under his watch. but cook has had his share of challenges, beginning with the siri feature on iphones. >> here's the forecast for today -- >> reporter: too slow and undependable at times. then there's maps. secu skewered by users. it's better but many regard google's app as better. cook has yet to deliver his own breakthrough product. with competitors like samsung setting their own sales records, cook phase his first real test -- faces his first real test of leadership. dan simon, cnn, san francisco. i'm carol

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